Franklin Mendez (Earth-5875)
Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez (Ret.) (service number 22926-11908-FM) is a retired high-ranking member of the UNSC Navy who was involved in the training of both the SPARTAN-II Program and the SPARTAN-III Program. A veteran of Secession and the First Contact War, his career saw extensive campaigns and praise, and his service record is impressive, earning him several medals on his fight against the Insurrectionists and the Covenant. Biography Early life Franklin Mendez was born on March 21st, 2492, in the human Inner colony Sigma Octanus IV. He enlisted in the UNSC Navy at age sixteen with his parents' consent, leaving for Reach to start his training. In 2514, Mendez was assigned to the UNSC Special Forces, where he undertook many high-risk assignments in the Secession, fighting against Insurrectionists in the Eridanus system, although the nature and details of the operations remain classified. After his promotion to Chief Petty Officer, Mendez became involved in the training of NAVSPECWAR, where the Office of Naval Intelligence took notice of his particular set of skills. By 2517, in addition to his battlefield expertise, Mendez was nearly universally regarded as the best hand-to-hand combatant and drill instructor of the Navy. SPARTAN-II Program .]]Mendez' skills eventually earned him the training position within Dr. Catherine Halsey's SPARTAN-II Program, in 2516. During the SPARTAN children first years of training at the Reach FLEETCOM Military Complex from 2517 to 2525, training them on the many aspects of combat like a Marine when they were six years old. His military training was supported by high education classes overseen by the Auton synthetic Déjà. Initially, Mendez and his subordinate drilling instructors used humble stun devices to discipline the trainees and force them to be obedient and pay attention, as well as tranquilizer darts for trainees who attempted to escape, notably those who would make up Grey Team. With time, however, the SPARTAN-IIs came to see Mendez as a fatherly figure, much like they saw Halsey as a mother, and unmovable force in their lives, particularly John-117. They admired the Chief Petty Officer and held great respect for him. Following the completion of the SPARTAN-II training, Mendez was reassigned by ONI and Halsey to train the next class of SPARTAN-IIs. John-117 would never see him again, but Mendez returned John the quarter that Halsey had given him during their first meeting on Eridanus II, recalling that John broke the finger of other three trainees when they attempted to get them off him. SPARTAN-III Program When the second class of SPARTAN-IIs was delayed by Dr. Halsey because she could not find the right and viable candidates, ONI diverted all of their funding to other classified projects, and thus Mendez requested to be reassigned to active duty. For the following six years, Mendez battled the Covenant on five colonies, where he won two Purple Hearts and was promoted to Senior Chief Petty Officer. Right after, he was recruited by Colonel James Ackerson to work alongside Lieutenant Commander Kurt-051 on his then-newly devised SPARTAN-III Program. He trained all of the SPARTAN-III companies at Camp Currahee, on Onyx, from 2531 until 2552. He was skeptical of his new job, and compared the trainee behavior to that of the schoolchildren in ''Lord of The Flies''. Battle of Onyx While he trained the last trainees of Gamma Company on October 31st, 2552, Mendez and the UNSC forces on the planet were attacked by forerunner Sentinels. He was virtually alone on the planet alongside Tom-B292, Lucy-B091, Kurt-051, and Team Saber, and thus they were forced to hide from the Sentinels for the next days. They met with Kelly-087 and Dr. Halsey, who arrived on Onyx later, and who were followed by Fred-104, Will-043, and Linda-058. Mendez led them in fighting to the core of Onyx, where they remained hidden, although at the cost of Kurt's life. Stranded and retirement stranded on Sarcophagus.]] After a makeshift funeral for the fallen SPARTANs that died during the Battle of Onyx, Mendez started to reread one of his favorite books, A Soldier's Tale: Rainforest Wars. Inside the shield world, Mendez started to reflect on his role in the SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III programs, and took note of Halsey's discomfort with the SPARTAN-IIIs which he helped to train, leading him to confront her. After Mendez and the other survivors established a base camp in a forerunner installation, Lucy-B091 discovered three huragok which helped the humans make contact with the Office of Naval Intelligence, which arrived in the shield world sphere and saved them. They were then brought for a debriefing at HIGHCOM Facility Bravo-6 aboard the [[UNSC Port Stanley (Earth-5875)|UNSC Port Stanley]]. Mendez and the surviving SPARTAN-IIs and SPARTAN-IIIs later attended the Voi Memorial on March 3rd, 2553. Shortly after, Mendez retired from the UNSC as a result of personal guilt over training child soldiers and pressure from the UNSC. Interview with Benjamin Giraud In 2564, ONI had someone they claimed to be Mendez to provide an interview to journalist and propagandist Benjamin Giraud regarding John-117. Like all other ONI sources that they had been providing for Giraud, he noted Mendez pushed for the sanitized public version of the SPARTAN-II background, glorifying the heroism of John and omiting his age. Once Giraud attempted to critically approach the subject, Mendez advised him to not keep pressing the issue, otherwise it would become "unpleasant". Personality Franklin Mendez is a stoic, taciturn, and by-the-book military man who values the concept of duty, sacrifice and honor, although he rarely allow himself to display these emotions to others. John-117 claimed he had never seen Mendez smiling. Following the destruction of Alpha Company, Mendez kept his face stony and hid his feelings of despair in the moment to not appear emotionally weak or unstable in front of others. His discipline and overt seriousness made new people distant of him, but those know him well, such as John-117 and Kurt-051, have a deep respect and relationship comperable to that of a father and child. Mendez' militarism and sense of duty stretches to himself, and he kept his physical fitness in check and well, being considerably strong during his seventies. Kurt-051 noted he had aged very well, and did not look as old as he actually was, although this copes with the fact he spent many periods of his life in cryosleep during both the Secession and the First Contact War. He enjoyed smoking Sweet Williams cigars. Category:Earth-5875 Category:Characters of Earth-5875 Category:Males of Earth-5875 Category:Humans of Earth-5875 Category:UNSC Navy enlisted personnel (Earth-5875) Category:UNSC personnel (Earth-5875) Category:Brown Eyes Category:Grey Hair Category:Males Category:Military Personnel Category:Tactical Analysis Category:Expert Combatant Category:Martial Artists Category:Intimidation Category:Driving Category:Created by Draft227